Steelie counts are holding up and guides are reporting decent action. On Friday 11-13 Steve Huber says little has changed as far as scores with counts of 1 to 3 steelies per day landed out of 5 to 7 fish hooked. The quality has picked up with some bigger adults to 8 pounds in the mix. He is still working the middle river around Del Loma and pulling plus and bouncing some roe. There are salmon spawning in the riffles of this section but far fewer than should be expected for a "banner season" and the time of year.
 
On Wednesday 11-4 guide Steve Huber reports he has been working the Del Loma section and averaging 3 to 6 fish mostly steelies along with a few, very few, scattered small and dark salmon. The majority of the fish are running 4 to 7 pounds or in current day guide speak "under gillnet mesh size fish". There are still lots of smolts in the river and Steve says he is getting most of his fish on plugs. He advises anglers to be on the river early and try to stay away from the competition. We want to commend Steve for putting in place the last three weeks a no salmon take policy. Steve has been very upfront with all his clients that on his boat all salmon will be released due what has been going on down river. My hat goes off to Steve and his clients for supporting him.

Gillnets Wiping Out Trinity Salmon Run
Tribal gillnets are literally wiping out the entire 2009 Trinity salmon run. It's tough enough the salmon have to make it through one gauntlet on the Lower Klamath but it's the second set of nets at the Hoopa reservation on the lower Trinity that are inflicting the biggest toll. The numbers of fish fighting their way to the spawning grounds on this important tributary to the Klamath are at all time lows. 

We have been highlighting this travesty for the past month and it finally looks like the main steam media is starting to pick up the story and bring it to light to those outside the fishing community. We encourage out readers to help us continue to spread this message.

For the week ending today November 4th only 16 king salmon made their way through the weir on the main stem Trinity at Willow Creek. That brings the Trinity river / Willow Creek weir count since October 1st to 111 fish. Cal F&G just posted a new message on their weekly Willow Creek weir count announcement to clarify actually escapement which reads "Attached is the most recent summaries for the weirs and hatcheries. An important reminder- the weir counts are not complete counts of fish passing the site, only a sub sample, usually less than 15% of the total number of fish passing the weir site, please do not cite weir counts as total counts. Also, all data is considered preliminary until final editing has been completed, please cite as such."

That's good news as it brings the total salmon escapement to roughly 740 fish.  This is still far too low of an escapement for a major river system and shows that F&G just has no idea how to manage this fishery. If the best they can come up with is a "clarification of the weir numbers" it only shows that they are more concerned in "covering their ass" than they are in engaging in their real mission which is supposed to be the "managing California fisheries and wildlife", and we wonder why our fisheries continue to collapse.

This over harvest of salmon was avoidable and in terms of the percentage of returning fish the gillnets have taken (harvested or whatever term one wishes to use) appears to be over 90% this year's entire Trinity fall run of kings. This complete disregard for sustainable runs will be felt for years and could lead to the continued closures of sport and commercial fishing along the California and Oregon coasts and both tribal and sport fishing in the lower Klamath in 2012 and 2013.

On October 22nd over 20,000 pounds of Trinity river salmon netted by Hoopa gillnetters (approximately 2000 + fish)  was intercepted by NOAA enforcement officers at a fish processor at pier 45 in San Francisco. Unfortunately the bust was unable to be prosecuted because the Hoopa tribe has never submitted a harvest plan. These processors sell to one so called "eco minded" chain (think health food) that profess that they sell only fish from sustainable fisheries".  My only question is that if you can't prosecute the netters why can't you go after the state licensed commercial fish buyers for purchasing illegally caught fish? This catch also violates three (of the total of four) the Hoopa tribal fishing codes.
Despite the fact that the Hoopa netters were busted with 20K pounds of "subsistence" fish (being sold commercially) that they broke their own laws to catch the netting continues unabated. Dozens of nets are still in the river and likely catching 100s of fish nightly. Yes, the tribes certainly are the stewards of the river, or at least it's demise.

This picture (left) taken the second week of September on the lower end of the Hoopa reservation clearly shows a series of three nets that are set bank to bank that allows little to zero escapement. The nets are set to capture all salmon moving up through a deep hole where the majority of salmon stage and rest. Due to competition, gillnetters always try to set below others making for little chance of escapement. These are just three nets of 44 that were counted. Tribal anglers call this subsistence fishing. With 44 nets stacked in just a small section of river  plunder  or rape may be a better choice of words. The angler who sent us this picture said every hole had two to three nets and was "impassable, unless the fish grew wings". 

Not all tribal members of the many along the Klamath and Trinity agree with what is happening. There are individuals and groups that are totally against gillnetting  but have little say on the fishery practices of others through their own counsel. Many agree that gillnetting is not sustainable and is destroying their true native fisheries. You will find only truth in that statement today on the lower Trinity.
 
Guides and businesses along the river are afraid to speak up for fear of reprisals and threats of violence. Personally I have received (and documented) many threats against me and even my children for exposing what I and many believe to be the over harvest of salmon by tribal gillnetters on the Klamath and Trinity rivers for the past many years.

To be fair it was white cannery operators who first wiped out the Klamath salmon runs in the early 1900s (pictured right) but runs recovered once commercial netting stopped. Then, like now gillnets and greed were the reason for the collapse. The only difference between then and now was that at that time no dams had been built and fishery laws were enforced to allow a come back. Today with no accountability on the tribes to properly manage their harvest the run is being wiped out yet again and maybe for good.

The Hoopa's are entitled to a 6000 fish quota this year. There is no telling how many fish of that quota they have caught (on top of the 2000 + they tried to illegal sell) because they have no harvest plan and don't report catches to any outside fishery agency.

Gillnetting  and sportfishing quotas are all based on wild ass guess (WAGS) theories of ocean abundance and river returns that are made months in advance. More often than not these WAGS are wrong and when they are overly optimistic can result in far too many salmon being harvested. This year again shows how overly optimistic WAGS result in far too many fish being harvested.

It's time for West Coast fishery managers (PFMC, CDFG, NOAA, USFW) to do away with the WAG and practice modern fishery management here in California.

Alaska has had great results in managing both sport and commercial salmon harvest by using sonar counters on many rivers.  I feel that sonar (or weirs where they are better suited) would be ideal to manage the Klamath and Trinity river fisheries. It would do away with the WAG and harvest would be controlled by escapement. That is sound management and ensures enough salmon make it back  to seed future returns.

(Pictured Left: One can clearly see the gillnet marks on this Trinity steelhead. The fish was just small enough to be able to push through the nets. Today a smaller fish is much more likely to survive as most larger brood stock salmon and steelhead are taken out by the nets)

The 101 bridge on the lower Klamath would be an ideal spot for a primary sonar counter or a weir. It's an area where the channel is small and the transponders could be easily mounted onto the bridge pilings to count all returning fish.

For instance if the Yurok tribe is allowed 20% of the in-river return for their commercial fishery they would be allowed to harvest no more (or less) of the escapement that moves past the counter at the 101 bridge.  10,000 fish move past the counter they could harvest 2000 fish, no more or less. 100,000 fish move up they get 20K, no more or less but no fishing until minimum escapement goals have been met ABOVE THE 101 BRIDGE.

Currently using the WAG,  Yurok tribal netters harvested over 35000 (+ DUE TO ALL THE UNCOUNTED FISH AND THOSE NEVER REPORTED) fish in just 17 days early in the season. In the time being sport anglers harvested just 3501 of their 32,000 fish quota in 2009. In 2008 sport anglers landed just 10% of their quota 22.5K fish quota but the Yurok tribe took their full allotment of 22,500 fish before 10% of the run even migrated above tide water.

To maintain an accurate count, sonar (or weirs) should also be installed at the mouth of the Trinity and in the main stem Klamath just upriver from the Trinity. Fish that turn into the Trinity could be counted at the mouth and again at the Willow Creek weir. The Hoopa's would be allowed to harvest their allotment of fish that make it past the Willow Creek weir, no more, no less but no fishing until minimum escapement has been met AT THE WILLOW CREEK WEIR.

Over harvest by subsistence netters on the lower Klamath has been a big problem for years but the actual impact in numbers of fish is unknown. By having sonar counters along the length of the river the true impact of legal and illegal gillnetting would be known and harvests and allotments could be adjusted to make up for these impacts in real time or loss of fishing rights in the following years.
 
Just a few ideas based on what has worked in Alaska which has tribal and commercial gillnetting, resident dip netting and sportfishing to manage on the same rivers. They are able to adjust fishery harvest in real time and always error on the side of the fish. It's a proven method of proper fishery management. After all what sense is there is spending 10s of millions to tear down dams and restore the rivers if tribal gillnetters continue to over harvest the brood stock.

It's time that for new styles of fishery management but unfortunately it's too late for Trinity river bound kings and coho this year. The over harvest this season will effect future seasons of both California and Oregon sport and commercial salmon anglers for the next several years. There can be a better future for salmon if we are bold enough to give up old practices and work together to rebuild the salmon runs.
We owe it to future generations to correct what we ALL have screwed up so badly.
Mike Aughney
fishsite@aol.com
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Editor's Feedback:
I want to thank the scores of readers who have written us about this story. This is a "live" story and we will continue to update it as weir counts, pictures and new information comes in. The message is getting out and we are starting to see some related stories. This one from WON written by Jim Jones makes some excellent points.  wonews.com/t-FreshReport_trinity_river_110209.aspx
And this one from the Record Searchlight in Redding  http://www.redding.com/news/2009/nov/08/are-gill-nets-decimating-klamath-and-trinity/

Many other emails have been from guides and local business owners (who for years have been muzzled by threats of violence from the tribes when they speak out) saying thanks for what they cannot risk saying. One was from Yurok tribal member who has been ostracized because he had spoken out against nets. In response to letters from some tribal members I will say that this issue has NOTHING to do with race. You can play the race card all you want but more often than not that is the first card played by the tribe (s) every time their netting practices are questioned. I only wish that the gillnetters in question were all lily white. Then I could come out with both barrels.
Unfortunately CDFG, NOAA, PFMC and USFW are a big reason this story ever came to be. They have done nothing to enforce harvest. Harvest plans that should have been submitted by the Hoopa's in the 1970s are still not filed. Cal Fish and Game wardens have the audacity to check sport anglers for their license and punch card while (and I have seen this twice the past five years) Yurok netters are shooting sealions right in front of them and they do nothing. Last and least, why does it take someone like me to state the obvious that sonar counters may be one of the best ways to manage harvest and escapement?
We have lost the Sacramento Valley salmon fisheries and in turn ocean sport and commercial fisheries worth 100s of million $$$$$$$$$ due to water diversion, greed and politics and now the Trinity to gillnetting and greed and for what? $50,000 worth of fish to the Hoopa tribe. This $50K worth of fish to the tribe will cost $10s of millions to the California economy come 2012.
My final question..... is when are Federal and State fishery managers going to start working with the tribes to manage these fisheries? If recent history is any inclination they will only step up when the run has completely collapsed.
I encourage sport anglers, especially those who live in the "State of Jefferson" to speak out about this travesty and to contact the media and their state assembly and congress members and ask for answers.
Mike